This invention relates to a container and method used for loading currency notes into currency cassettes of the kind used with cash dispensing machines.
Currency cassettes are used, for example, in automated teller machines (ATMs) of the kind wherein a user inserts a customer-identifying card into the machine and then enters certain data (such as codes, quantity of currency required or to be paid in, type of transaction, etc.) upon one or more keyboards associated with the machine. The machine then processes the transaction, updates the user's account to reflect the current transaction, dispenses cash when requested, and returns the card to the user as part of a routine operation. It is common for an ATM to dispense currency notes of at least two different denominations, in which case, the ATM will normally include a separate currency cassette for notes of each particular denomination.
It is important for the correct operation of the cash dispensing mechanism of an ATM that the currency notes contained in each currency cassette mounted in the ATM be accurately positioned in the cassette with corresponding edges of the notes exactly aligned. Currency notes normally are loaded directly into a currency cassette, and such direct loading can be tedious and time-consuming. It is desirable that the replenishment of an ATM with loaded currency cassettes be carried out as quickly as possible in order to keep to a minimum the time for which the ATM is out of operation. However, it is not always convenient to have available a spare, ready-loaded, currency cassette to use as a replacement for an exhausted cassette, and so, such replenishment may take longer than is desirable.